This invention relates to a foldable bed, particularly to a bed or crib for infants, which may easily be folded to a flat portable state and opened for use. A prior bed of this type designed by me and distributed by the Newborne Company, Worthington, Mass., comprises a supporting frame, a cloth forming side walls suspended on said frame and a stiffening bottom plate supported on said frame, said frame having an uper central joint assembly, a pair of upper U-shaped supporting tubes and a pair of U-shaped legs, having a bottom yoke and two upwardly extending side-pieces, said upper supporting tubes and legs being pivotably assembled by means of said joint assembly, lower supporting tubes bridging said side-pieces at a level suitable for supporting said bottom plate, and a pair of struts at each side of the bed, adjacent ends of each pair of struts being pivotably interconnected, the other end of each strut of each pair being pivotably interconnected with the one of said upper supporting tubes, and each strut being pivotably connected to one side-piece of one of said legs.
The struts are pivotably interconnected with said side-pieces of said legs by means of pivot means such as rivets anchored in bores of the side-pieces and struts respectively and allowing no relative displacement between such elements other than rotation. Under these circumstances each strut had to be divided into two parts interconnected by a joint located between the pivot points at the side-piece of the leg and the upper supporting tube. Although this bed is highly appreciated by customers, it has been found that its strut construction is not entirely satisfactory. Due to the pivot means rigidly connected to the strut and to the legs and upper tubes respectively and due to the additional joint between the strut parts, folding and unfolding of the bed was not very easy. The struts had a tendency to jam such that to much force had to be applied for folding and unfolding, this often resulting in bending and other damaging of the struts or adjacent members. It also happened that unskilled persons did not properly manage to fold or unfold the bed and were even hurt.